Lester pleads the fifth in Red Sox loss

Paul Jarvey

BOSTON 
We’re not used to seeing Jon Lester struggle, not like this, not at Fenway.

But there he was in an interminable fifth inning yesterday, unable to get that second out no matter what he tried. And by the time Hunter Jones finally finished the inning, the Rays had a seven-run lead, which they turned into a 14-5 win, and Lester was on his way to his third loss of the season, second at Fenway.

That’s one more home loss than he had all of last year.

After seven starts, he’s 2-3 with a 6.31 ERA, and you wonder if his big jump of innings from 2007 to 2008 is taking a toll.

That was the furthest thing from his mind in the fifth when he thought just about every ball the Rays hit would be an out, only none of them were.

Of Tampa Bay’s seven hits off him in the inning, only Evan Longoria’s double off the Monster didn’t hit the ground in the infield. One of those hits was a bunt that Lester fielded but was too slow in getting the ball to first.

The rest seemed to be at or around Julio Lugo, who is still feeling the effects of knee surgery in March. Yesterday, he not only had to deal with his knee and the decreased mobility that has come with it, but with the boos he heard from the crowd.

Never a fan favorite because of his big contract and lack of production, Lugo wasn’t about to get a break from the faithful.

“It bothers you (to get booed), it bothers me,” he said. “People need to understand we’re not perfect. We’re human beings. If not, we’d have wings. I’d be beside God right now. I’d be an angel. I’m not an angel, I’m a human being.”

Sox manger Terry Francona understands, but he’s in a bad spot with his shortstops right now. Nick Green is a career utility guy with little experience at short. Lugo is still not 100 percent.

Francona didn’t want to pin Tampa Bay’s big inning on Lugo, but he acknowledged that his shortstop doesn’t have his accustomed range yet.

“We’re trying to balance winning and getting Julio back, getting some of that athleticism back,” Francona said. “It’s there, and we know it, and he knows it. We’re doing the best we can.”

Of all the balls that were hit in his direction, Lugo thought the only one he could’ve made a play on was Dioner Navarro’s bouncer with one on and nobody out. It looked like a double-play ball, but instead of two outs and the bases empty, the Rays had runners on first and second, no outs and the top of the order coming up.

“I couldn’t come up with that ball, I just couldn’t,” Lugo said. “The others, there was nothing I could do about it.”

Things were about to get a lot worse for Lester and the Sox. He botched B.J. Upton’s bunt, and that loaded the bases for Carl Crawford, who has had back-to-back three-hit games in this series.

Crawford singled, and Lester’s frustration continued, resulting in his shortest and worst outing of the year — 4-1/3 IP, 10 H, 8 R. It was the most runs he has ever allowed.

Lester was the Sox’s best pitcher last year, an emerging star at age 25. He pitched a no-hitter on his way to a 16-6 season. Francona couldn’t say enough about him.

Expectations were naturally high for this season, but Lester has so far shown only flashes of dominance. He lost his first two starts before pitching seven shutout innings against the Orioles to pick up his first win. After two straight no-decisions, he struck out 10 Yankees, tying a career high, in his last start, and it looked like he was on his way.

Then came yesterday’s clunker.

“Right now, I don’t really think there are a whole lot of adjustments that need to be done,” he said. “I feel like I’m throwing the ball pretty well. Right now, balls aren’t going at people.”

It wasn’t just the fifth that did him in. He gave a two-run homer to Longoria off the top of the center field in the first. There’s no shame in that. Longoria has 11 homers all ready and leads the majors with 45 RBIs.

Lester pitched decently for the next three innings after that before things started going sideways in the fifth.

“We don’t get paid to go out there and say, ‘I felt good, but we lost,’ ” Lester said. “That doesn’t do anything. We get paid to go win ballgames and to pitch deep into the game. Right now, it just seems like it’s few and far between. It seems like I have some good innings strung together, then some bad ones.”